Science News Roundup: In-vitro human skin; China's Mars mission landing test and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Membrane in a minute: Singapore scientists produce in-vitro human skin

A piece of skin about the size of your thumbnail can be printed in less than a minute, scientists in Singapore say, a game-changing step for the future of non-animal testing for cosmetics and other products. Made up of skin cells from donors and collagen, the in-vitro skin has the same chemical and biological properties as human skin, says John Koh, lab manager at start-up DeNova Sciences, which is collaborating with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University on the product.

Boeing received 'unnecessary' contract boost for astronaut capsule, watchdog says

Boeing's multibillion-dollar contract to build U.S. astronaut capsules received an "unnecessary" extension from NASA, a watchdog report said on Thursday, the latest management blunders in the agency's program to restart domestic human spaceflight. NASA agreed to pay Boeing Co a $287 million premium for "additional flexibilities" to accelerate production of the company's Starliner crew vehicle and avoid an 18-month gap in flights to the International Space Station. NASA's inspector general called it an "unreasonable" boost to Boeing's fixed-priced $4.2 billion dollar contract.

China completes crucial landing test for first Mars mission in 2020

China on Thursday successfully completed a crucial landing test in northern Hebei province ahead of a historic unmanned exploration mission to Mars next year. China is on track to launch its Mars mission, Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration, said on Thursday, speaking to foreign diplomats and the media before the test.

China's huge mysterious extinct ape 'Giganto' was an orangutan cousin

Genetic material extracted from a 1.9 million-year-old fossil tooth from southern China shows that the world's largest-known ape - an extinct creature dubbed "Giganto" that once inhabited Southeast Asia - was an oversized cousin of today's orangutans. The findings, announced on Wednesday, shed light on a species, called Gigantopithecus blacki, that has been shrouded in mystery because its fossil remains are so sparse - just a collection of teeth and remnants of several lower jaws.